


Beauty Mourns The Beast

by Kasino



Category: RWBY
Genre: Adam Taurus is a piece of shit still, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Past Abuse, Psychological Trauma, Reassuring Yang Xiao Long, Recovery, Regretful Blake Belladonna, Self-Hatred, Sort of-but-not-really Redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-13 23:52:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17497694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kasino/pseuds/Kasino
Summary: Adam Taurus is dead and Argus lies in ruins. Blake and Yang can finally leave that part of their lives behind. Only Blake finds it impossible to do so. She knew that Adam wasn't always so evil, but she hated him so much. So why was she crying for him?





	Beauty Mourns The Beast

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy this. A lot of people might hate me for this but it seems like an interesting scenario I'd probably include in such a large-scale story like RWBY, and if Adam ever was good, and if he ever really loved Blake properly (Which I personally believe he did), I can see Blake having a kind of crisis like this. Especially if Argus ended up in ruins and she had to confront the horrors of death again.

Blake watched the city fall behind them. Smoke rose from the destruction the Grimm had wrought, and the Leviathan stood tall and proud above its brutal conquest. It was slightly hard to see from this distance, but in its hands were pieces of Caroline Cordovin's mech. She may have been a racist bitch, but when it came down to it, she wasn't afraid to die for the people she was meant to protect, and Blake could appreciate that. The roar of the ship died down as it straightened out, having narrowly avoided the manticores that pursued it, and a voice crackled over the comms, it was Maria.

"Well, we're clear for now everyone. It's going to be a long flight to Atlas so I suggest that you get as much sleep as you can. I'm not saying to... Forget those we lost."

A silence crept among the crew apart from a mother's mortified sobs. Blake winced when she looked at Saphron, still holding Adrian's bloody bib in her hands. Terra was up front with Maria, flying the ship. It seemed Terra was more like Blake, running away from the problems she'd inevitably have to face. Blake pulled her eyes away from Saph, who was now crying into Jaune's shoulder, but she caught sight instead of Ruby, rocking in Weiss's arms as she cradled her uncle's scythe. Qrow. The poor bastard shouldn't have had to have died today. But Blake would forever be grateful to him. He saved Yang one last time. Blake couldn't lose her after their fight with Adam. She just couldn't bear it. That's when she felt the tears, and Maria began to speak again.

"Those people will forever live on in our hearts, but we have to carry on so that their deaths can have some meaning. I know it's hard. I've felt what it's like, and it is the worst feeling in this cruel world of ours. But we must go on. For the people we love."

As the intercom crackled out, Blake saw Oscar sitting on the ship's edge, Nora and Ren at his side as the three silently mourned their losses. Blake sniffled and retreated further back in the ship, dangling her legs off the other side, beginning to feel herself break down. Shit. No. Not for him. He didn't deserve these tears. Qrow did, Adrian did, hell, even Cordovin did but not him. Yet she cried for him anyways. She heard steps closing in and furiously wiped at her eyes. Yang couldn't see her like this.

"Hey Blake." Yang groaned, gripping her side as she sat down and Blake's ears perked up.

"Yang. What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Liar. "Just a wound from one of the beowolves. Those things can be tough in large groups."

Blake smiled. It was good that Yang could keep spirits up in a time like this. But she was scared it wouldn't be enough. The tears were coming again, and if Yang didn't notice before, she sure did now.

"Blake? Hey, come here." Yang wrapped her arms around the cat faunus and let her cry into her chest, softly running her damaged prosthetic down her jet-black hair. But it was for the wrong reasons. "It's okay. I'm gonna miss him too. But Qrow was one hell of a fighter, and he wasn't gonna go quietly. We should all be proud of that."

Blake couldn't let Yang believe that lie. She wriggled out of Yang's grip and looked her in the eyes, the deep violet glossing over in confusion and grief.

"Dammit Yang. I want to say that I'm crying for him. But I'm not. And I'm not crying for Adrian or for Cordovin."

"Then... Why?" Yang already knew the answer, it was clear in her eyes, and her grip. Her metal arm was tightening around her bicep.

"Yang. Yang, you're hurting me. Yang!" There was no answer. Blake slapped her. Hard. "YANG!"

Yang instantly snapped out of it. Blake could see the regret in her eyes. She was shaking. They both were. Blake because of the pain, and Yang because she had caused it.

"I... I'm sorry Blake." She shrank back in shame. It was nothing Blake hadn't dealt with before.

"It's okay Yang." Blake took her hand and placed a small kiss on it, the cold metal making her shiver. "I know you didn't mean it... Neither did Adam at first."

Yang didn't need to say anything. Blake could see the question, and Yang could see the answer. She was crying for Adam. The psychopath that had tried to kill them both and Blake was crying for him. Yang needed to know what was wrong.

"Why are you crying for him, Blake? He was insane, he would have killed us if he had the chance."

"I know. But... I remember who Adam Taurus used to be. I remember the passionate, amazing freedom fighter I fell in love with." Blake saw Yang tense up at the words, but they were true, and Yang needed to hear the truth. "It was so great at first. He loved me and I loved him. At the start, he never would have dreamed of hurting me. In fact, I remember that at the time the head of the White Fang, Sienna, had to try and keep us separate. We were... Something else. A force to be reckoned with."

"So what changed?"

Blake hesitated. She hated that question, it made it sound like Adam became a completely different person, as he'd just stopped loving her in a way that was true. It wasn't like that, it never had been. But she wished she could say why.

"I honestly don't know. one day, he just came back to the camp and he was distant... Cold. I'd try and talk to him but he'd brush me off and ignore me. He still cared about me, I knew that because there were times he'd kiss me, and it was delicate. He was just... Hardened."

Blake paused and Yang tilted her head. Blake had averted her eyes and was picking at her nails. She was scared to say anything. Yang took her hand back and gave her a light squeeze. It was okay, she was here for her.

"The first time he hit me, I said it was okay and I kissed him. We'd got back from a mission. Soldiers had been killed. He was furious. I wanted to reassure him, tell him it wasn't his fault. All I did was put my hand on his shoulder and he hit me with the back of his hand. The apologies were all laid out in a second, and I just accepted them. Maybe if I'd told him that it wasn't okay, that no matter what he was feeling, he should never hit me, maybe he would have turned out okay. Or at the very least, maybe he would have understood when I left. The last time I kissed him, I abandoned him and the White Fang. It was a cargo heist, I would have stayed if it wasn't for the potential collateral. Because, people had died on missions he'd led, but it was in the heat of the moment. Then, he was going to leave them all to die. I couldn't let that happen. So I separated the train cars and parted ways with him then. That was when I accepted that the man I loved was gone."

Blake had never cried as much as she had during that confession. Near the end, she was choked up, and could barely control her own voice, that betrayed her to let Yang know how broken and lonely she was. Of course, Yang understood. She didn't blame her.

"Blake." She was gentle, Yang lifted her chin to make eye contact again, and Blake smiled at her words. "Adam isn't going to be your last love. You're going to meet someone, someday, and you will love them 'till the day you die. I know that you're probably scared to let someone in after what Adam turned into, but I promise you, you will find someone who will love you like the sun loves this world."

Blake laughed. She didn't know if Yang was really that oblivious or if she was just being polite. But if today had taught her anything, it was that life could be cut far too short. So fuck being polite.

"Oh, Yang. I've already found that person." Blake didn't wait for an invitation to kiss Yang. It felt so good. She hadn't felt this way in a long time, not since the Adam she knew. But she was scared once more because compared to her first kiss with Adam, this was nothing. That was something else today had taught her, and it was something Yang needed to know. "But... I need you to know something if we're going to do this. And it's going to make you angry, but I need to say this. Okay?"

Yang opened her mouth for a split-second, but closed it, nodding her head. Blake sighed and steeled herself, shaking off the fear in her heart.

"When we killed Adam today. I felt so much pain. So much that it flooded the relief. It made me realize something. Everyone says they have their 'one'. And while I know that I love you, I also know that Adam, despite the pain and suffering he put me through, was my one. Because even when I hated him, I loved him, because, during my time at the White Fang, he was everything I'd ever needed. And I hate it. I hate that I know he's the one I'll love more than anyone. It's a fact that burns me inside every second I think of it. But it's true. Not that it means I'm never going to love you, Yang, because I do. I love you so much. It's just... I'm never going to love you as much as I loved him."

Blake could practically hear Yang screaming on the inside. Hearing that the man she hated more than anything was the one person the girl she loved would love more than anyone. It was the hardest thing she'd ever heard. But Yang wouldn't let it discourage her. She kissed Blake with even more passion, and the catgirl felt Yang's tears on her cheeks. Yang pulled away, and Blake saw her eyes blazing red with flame.

"I'm sorry if these words hurt you, but fuck however you feel about him. I'm not letting that stand in my way."

It didn't hurt. It was the best thing Blake had heard in a long time. As she looked back to the ashes of Argus, she thought to Adam, and the days they spent together when he was still the best man she ever knew. Even in death, it seemed he was still helping her.

"Thank you Adam. For leading me to her."


End file.
